Palma Real review

I played Palma Real today for the first time since April and here are my thoughts. The layout of the course has not changed at all. I like the layout of the course, but it may not stay the same forever. All kinds of rumors have been flying about the course since Greg Norman spent a few days here on behalf of Lorena Ochoa a few years ago looking at both Palm Real and The Marina course for her to purchase. Nothing happened on that deal.

A deal was struck earlier this year with a group of CDMX businessmen. Here is the good things they have done to the course. There was a huge cleanup period that started immediately after the takeover. There was still hurricane debris, plus 30 years of neglect to clean up. They have done a lot in this aspect, but there is still a bit more to go.They have brought in many additional carts and now have about 60 total. Basic carts about five years old. No GPS. They have brought in used maintenance equipment from another course they own, which was an upgrade for here, but it's not brand new state of the art Toro equipment. The greens are in very good condition for this time of year, but still a little slow. I'd guess about 7-8 on the Stemp. New signage at each hole. Looks nice, but doesn't add any value for a regular.Remodeled front reception area. They tore down the old snack shop area and built a much nicer and larger one on the other side of the practice green. New guard gate and guard house out front. So, the entrance and front reception area make a nicer impression on people.They have made it tougher to take carts off the path close to the tee boxes. After a season of grow in it will look great. Many of the worn out cart areas have grown back nicely. Will they be able to keep them green? The fairway and roughs are all in good condition.

Here is the bad news. Prices are way up. No senior category anymore, so the older guys down for the season who have tighter budgets will mostly move to the Marina Course. Prices are on their web site. The real killer is the new condos that they are trying to sell. They have an insider club you can join for a mere $2500 USD to be the first to know about new announcements about development. As proposed, it will be an 18 story tower at the beach, completely ruining the 15th hole along the beach. How are they going to reconfigure that hole? Guess you'll just have to join the insider club to be the first to find out. The sales office for the condos is in the little building out near the sidewalk. This is where you can sign up for the insiders club.They don't care about losing the frugal foreigners to the Marina or to courses elsewhere.as they feel they have enough connections with the CDMX crowd to do very well. Good luck with that. I'm convinced that if even halfway successful, prices will continue up.

I have heard several different second hand reports that The Marina course is even worse than last year, with even fewer carts. Hard to imagine. But they raised their prices this year too. I guess they feel they can justify it due to the big increase at Palma. If you are a person coming here for a week and going to play a few rounds, the cost at either course is only up a bit after several years of no increases. The big increase is for those who want to come down for a few months and play a lot of golf.

Fore!